anyone did this mod?

[GOVEHIX]

i plan to do this mod to my vx, but still have a couple questions for it. so i ask does anyone on the board ever done this before? where can i get those little pieces of substrate? where do the wires go? directly to the battery or?

http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fvehi.web.infoseek.co.jp%2Fwle d%2Fwled.htm&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2

and check out this jap guy's home page too, he mod his interior just a a spaceship!
http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fhomepage3.nifty.com%2Fvehi%2F&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2

[Moncha]

It's translated into substrate from the site but all it really is modders PC board. You can get it in various sizes from Radio Shack.. Something in the order of this (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=276-150)
http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCatalog/ProductImage/276/276-150.jpg
Just search the site for "pc board"

[GOVEHIX]

thanks a lot! Moncha!
i was wondering what is the proper name for "substrate"//

[Hotsauce]

I'd call that breadboard. do be careful with spraying the board silver. Silver paint has powdered aluminum in it, and its conductive.

John C.

[mbeach]

Give me a day or two to bring over my links from the old computer. I have done similar mods to motorcycle taillights, and had started on the WRX's lights before I sold it.
I have a ton of info on this mod.

Easy trick:
Use a hot glue gun to seal the surface of your board (on the LED side) so that you can paint it with the silver paint without worrying about shorting anything out. Also, you can just use white paint -almost as reflective and a lot neater.

EDIT:
Here's one example, I think his pics are gone, but decent tutorial:
http://home.comcast.net/~jbipes/ttr/ledtails.html

also, you can join nasioc (www.nasioc.com) -it's a Subaru group but there's some good info on "LED +conversion +taillight" in the search. I can't remember the guy's name, but he did an awesome writeup of a full LED conversion on his Impreza. It's archived and shouldn't be too tough to find.

[Nazrat]

I like this one:

http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fvehi.web.infoseek.co.jp%2Fecv %2Fecv.htm&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2

-Tad

[WyrreJ]

Gotta love that translation, "The brightness of no defeat!"

[mbeach]

I love Engrish. Those sites are full of it.

[MZ-N10]

anyone really knowledgable on resistors, capacitors, etc? i just bought 200 red led to do a brake light coversion(each led is 3.5v.....anyone know how i can calculate wat resistor to use....i use to remmeber this a few years back but i totally forgot it.....
________
Alexahot (http://www.girlcamfriend.com/cam/alexahot/)

[mbeach]

Google "Ohm's Law +LED"

There's a few good sites that will explain how to figure things out. You won't need any capacitors, but you will need good soldering skills. Also, you will have an issue with your flash rate (turn signals). That has been the single most frustrating aspect of the whole project.

I suggest that you make a test bench (12v) from an old computer power supply, and get a breadboard (or two) from Radio Shack. This is where you can tune your resistor values for the correct brightness.

Oh, forgot to answer the question:
If the Vf is 3.5V, the supply is 12V, the desired current is 20 mA, then:
12-(3.5+3.5) / .020 = 250ohms (two LEDs per resistor)
12-(3.5+3.5+3.5) / .020 = 75 ohms (three LEDs per resistor)

[Tone]

Here are some CLEAR 24 LED arrays that plug right into our stock sockets for turn and brake. RED LEDs do not work well going through the red plastic of the lens. http://www.autolumination.com/

[MZ-N10]

Here are some CLEAR 24 LED arrays that plug right into our stock sockets for turn and brake. RED LEDs do not work well going through the red plastic of the lens. http://www.autolumination.com/


yea ive seen those around...but they dont give the desired effect i want...i wanted to do a conversion liek the one they ahve at clearcorner.com(sp?) for teh 240sx(japanese 2way conversion or soemthing) i cant think of a stock car tat has it rite now...but something like the caddys sts...etc even if they dont work out well....it didnt cost me much, spent about 15 bucks on 200 clear red leds....

oh and mbeach thanks man forgot bout this little thing called GOOGLE :p ....i think ill just bundle 3 of them together and avoid the whole resistor deal. and im not planning on doing the blinkers yet....

1 last thing...if someone has the time...can u plz do a rough measure of the little rectangle tat the vx brake light is in(cant get to my own vx rite now)...not sure how else to discribe it...
________
Volcano Vaporizers (http://volcanovaporizer.net/)

[mbeach]

Caddies, FXs and some of the E46 BMWs (convertibles) use a special type of LED called the Luxeon Star.

They are very bright and expensive surface mount LEDs. They also have a larger "footprint", and that's why there is so much space between the lights inside the housing.

At least one company sells 'bricks' of Luxeon Stars, they come in 3 and 6 LED long strips that can be broken apart (like a chocolate bar).

[WyrreJ]

I think stars are still pretty rare in production vehicles. Luxeon makes another, lower power, model that is packaged in squares that are the most common in production vehicles.

The place to learn about lights, LED or otherwise, is www.candlepowerforums.com .

[mbeach]

Those bars are here:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/
Follow the LED links to the 'light bars' -judging by the size of the VXs' brake light 'hole', you should only need one full bar per side.
There's also a ton of LED info on that site. Worth bookmarking, it has calculators and links to other LED conversion projects.


The Luxeons are actually common, though under different names on vehicles -I've taken apart an FXs tailight just to see how it was put together.
They are referred to as "high flux LEDs" in most places. The Luxeon Stars are just the brightest and best quality units that I have heard of.

Personally, I use good old high-intensity (normal) LEDs for most of my lighting applications, due to their wide (45* +) viewing angles.

[Moncha]

Here are some CLEAR 24 LED arrays that plug right into our stock sockets for turn and brake. RED LEDs do not work well going through the red plastic of the lens. http://www.autolumination.com/

I broke down and ordered a BUNCH of lights from here. As doing a prior post (http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=641&highlight=led+light) on similar replacements, I am impressed with these. The focal length of the side firing leds is different than the first LED's I tested as is the focal length of the forward facing. Thus, hitting the reflector of the housing more in a "Sweet Spot" making the whole thing much brighter than those mentioned in my first review.

I replaced the brake/parking lights, F/R turn signals, F/R side markers, horn lights and the rear view mirror lights. I did get a replacement for the dome light but will not use it as it didn't put out enough light for my liking. I decided to match the color of the LED to the lens after experimenting with some super bright white LED's that I already had. I didn't care for the "purplish" underlying color the white LED's created as it seemed to wash out the color of the lens, especially the amber lens.

My favorite part is the instant on, instant off of the LED's rather than the "ramp" of normal bulbs.

The second favorite part is the price, these replacements are well within lower budgets compared to the ones in my first review however, their proces have dropped dramatically since that review.

To make the turns work without having to change out flashers which doesn't always work, they also sell in line resistors to create a draw on the circuit comparative to regular bulbs.

The only con is the LED's still do not produce the "Glow" of an incandescant but these are IMHO pretty darned close to the same brightness.

I'll be able to show these off along with the new HID's in Moab and if there is enough interest, I may become a distributor for the company allowing for a good discount from what I already paid.

Thanks! Tone!

[pbkid]

ah, that sounds awesome moncha. would like to do something a little more custom like that to my VX, considering that i just bought the HID kit for the headlights. See ya in Moab 2006 if not at a sooner meet. =)

[GOVEHIX]

thank you very much for the info.